Magic and Mischief
by Angel of Pandemonium
Summary: When Percy Weasley was sent to America to get the help of the best Aurors of the DPM, he had no clue that he'd have to deal with an Herbologyst, a Curse Breaker, a super genius 16 year old Auror, a part werewolf metamorphmagus woman who seemed to live to make his life hell, or the horrors he'd be releasing on Fred and Charlie. Oh well, live and learn. But still, why him? Language
1. Two Rights Make a Left

_**Right, so, I re- read the first chapter, and I almost gagged. So, I rewrote it. I edited it. The same thing will be happening to the second chapter, don't worry.**_

 ** _Warning: this follows the cannon only slightly. There are far too many OC'S to say otherwise._**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I only own my O.C's… and even then, sometimes I wonder if its them who owns me….**_

* * *

Magic and Mischief

 _Chapter 1- Two Rights Make a Left_

If Seraphina were think about it, she would say that it all started when he walked into their office on that first day of March 1995.

Seraphina O'Brian raised a dark brown eyebrow and smirked at her partner, best friend, and/or sister, Lachesis Hyde, who, in turn, shot her a look.

Seraphina rolled eyes the same color as the dark chocolate that she loved, and shook back her hip length, dark brown curls- that were impossible to tame with normal, no-maj means- and cocked her head to the side, half smile on her lips as they both watched the young man- who appeared to be around the same age as Lachesis walked up to the two young women.

He was tall, Seraphina noted, seemingly lanky, but she had an odd feeling that he wasn't nearly as gangly as he appeared. His hair was as red as fire, and his eyes took on the same color as the sapphires that Lachesis seemed so fond of. His pale skin was covered in freckles- making him the exact opposite of both girls in the room, Seraphina herself sporting a deep tan, and Lachesis' heritage showing in the same gorgeous copper-toned skin as many of her ancestors.

He wore wizards robes and horn rimmed glasses. He looked impossibly proper… and kind of stiff. Lachesis frowned as she observed the man- who looked as though he'd rather be anywhere besides here. ' _Well_ ,' she thought, ' _None of us_ asked _you to come_ …'

He spoke then, and something in his tone put her back up even more. "I'm from the ministry of Magic. They sent me to have an audience with two of your Aurors, Lachesis Hyde and Seraphina O'Brian?" his voice held the stiff English accent that screamed arrogance- something that Lachesis immediately found aggravating. Her own family- or at least a small part of it, a branch in England- sounded like that… they had disowned her three-times- great grandmother for marrying… well, she couldn't quite remember if her great-great-great grandfather was a no-maj or just born into a no-maj family.

Seraphina watched as her friend's eyes narrowed, and gave a secret smirk. Yes, the tone of this guy's voice was arrogant… and while it pissed Lachesis off, it only mildly annoyed her. What pissed _her_ off was the way that he looked at them. Aristocrat to peasant. That is what made her want to punch him in the face.

However, she could look past that. Seraphina rolled her eyes again and smiled.

"That's us. What can we help you with, Mr. …?"

"Weasley. Percy Weasley. And the ministry is requesting your help on a specific case."

"And what case is that, Mr. Weasley?" Seraphina's voice took on an almost mocking tone as she observed him. At her own desk, Lachesis was busy mangling a quill. She couldn't sand the way he was looking at them… or the way he was talking. For some reason, that private- school English accent was really grating on her nerves. She looked at her younger sister, noticing that the shorter girl seemed to be totally at ease with this.

As it was, it was really hot- as per usual in Nevada- but, this type of heat usually made Lachesis crabby as all hell. She had been counting down the minutes until she could go _before_ this prick arrived. Now, she was imagining strangling him just as she imagined being at home in their mansion in the bayous near New Orleans…

Not that it was much better _there_ … but at least they had an A/C.

"We need help apprehending a criminal wanted for murder. He escaped Azkaban Prison last year."

"And why can't your own Aurors do that? What do you need a couple of Americans for?"

"They _are_." He said shortly. "That's the problem. We haven't gotten anything new. It's like he vanished into thin air, and he hasn't been seen since."

"Mm hmm… and what makes you think that we'll help?" Seraphina asked, inspecting her nails. "I mean… we aren't English…"

"You are welcome, of course, to turn down the offer-"

"I bet." Lachesis' voice was thick with sarcasm.

"We don't turn down missions simply because we don't like the management- or representative I should say. I do, however, need background on the case. I suppose you have the case files? Depending on what we get, we will either help you, or we won't."

"How… Gracious."

"How much of a dick can you be?" Lachesis sounded downright conversational as her temper finally frayed enough for her to speak.

Percy felt his eye twitch. He hadn't gotten this riled up since Fred and George sent him the dragon dung- oh, he'd known perfectly well where the 'sample fertilizer from Norway' had really come from. "I have six siblings, two of whom make it their personal crusade to insult me as much as they can. Calling me a dick… has no effect on me. Maybe you can come up with something new later, hm?"

He walked out of the room. Lachesis stared at the door with acute dislike. "Prick much?" she muttered darkly.

"Hey, don't judge him too much, Kesis."

"You mean like he was? Seraph, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm pretty sure that he was looking down his nose at the both of us."

"Two wrongs don't make a right…" Seraphina's pious tone made Lachesis snort and raise an eyebrow.

"And _you_ are the last person that should be saying that." She retorted. " _Especially_ after what you did to Johnson when he copped a feel."

"Uh, I am a sixteen-year-old. He is in his thirties. That is not _only_ illegal, but rather gross, considering he could be my father, and _then_ there's the fact that he is married." Seraphina returned. "He totally deserved that, and we aren't talking about me."

"Again, he's a prick."

"Seriously, Lachesis, two wrongs don't make a right."

"No, but they _do_ make a left."

"By the gods, Lachesis! If he apparated into an active minefield, would you?"

"No... But..."

"No ' _buts'_ … speaking of which, and completely changing the subject, mom's going to call when we get home."

"Aw, come on…"

Seraphina laughed at her adoptive sister's plight. "You can't dodge her forever, Kesis. She's just going to keep it up… right up until you're married."

"Yeah, and having six billion grandkids for her to spoil... Can't she leave me be? Nashoba _just_ got married, for spirit's sake! His wife is already _pregnant_! Can't she be happy with that for now?"

As they walked out of the DPM's headquarters, Lachesis rolled her eyes, changing them from grey to both silver and gold. Her hair changed from the thick, dense black to vibrant, electric blue, and half shaved off. The half that she left alone fell to her hips, rain straight.

"I'm only twenty-two. Why does she want me married with millions of kids on the way?"

Seraphina giggled and shoved her. "She worries. Hell, I'm not even her kid biologically, and she'll be starting on me soon." She grinned.

Lachesis let out a snort. She sometimes forgot that Seraphina was adopted, to be honest. They apparated home, and the now blue haired woman plopped down on the couch in the enormous Fourier.

This was home. Huge as it was, and maybe it was more space than four women needed, but the gorgeous, sprawling mansion was perfect for all four of them. The library was sacred to both Seraphina (who, as a true, romantically inclined Brainiac- had renovated it to look like the library straight out of a no-maj cartoon movie, _Beauty and the Beast),_ and one of their other room-mates, Devesa- Dev- O'Dwyer, who was a curse breaker by trade.

There were also two different greenhouses for the fourth of their group, Lianah Evans, who was a Botanist and potions master, and a large, state of the art (by no-maj standards) kitchen where Seraphina cooked… because nobody else could.

Not to mention the over 100 rooms, sprawling over grounds that were surrounded by the Bayou, and the French Quarter of New Orleans within 70 miles of the house.

The phone started ringing as soon as Lachesis got comfortable. She groaned as she got up off the couch. Seraphina grinned. She knew that Lachesis enjoyed the verbal sparring with Jaci Hyde as much as Jaci did. Seraphina shook her head and then apparated into the library, where she took out a magically sealed notebook. She hadn't told Lachesis of her latest vision.

Nor would she. As it was, Seraphina wanted to forget. Who _wanted_ to see their best friend/ sister's love life? Not her, that was for sure. Frankly, if it wasn't Lachesis she was seeing, it was Liana, who was busy in Romania, with her flowers…

Her last letter had said that she'd found an interesting one. She grinned a bit as she heard Lachesis yell at her mother as she wrote. She chuckled when she realized that in about two months, Liana would be home… and she'd be mad as a mother dragon missing an egg.

She yawned as she got up and made her way to the kitchen… to fix something up for herself. When Devesa walked in, she grinned. "What's up, Dev?" She asked, as she got the can that held the tea leaves down out of the cabinet.

"Nothing much… What's up with Kesis?" she asked, grabbing an apple. Seraphina laughed.

"Between mom calling her to nag her about getting married- or trying to hook her up with some random dude on a blind date and work, she's getting pretty frazzled."

"Mm, speaking of work, I've just got some juicy info from the curse-breaking community…"

"Oh? What's the curse- breaker gossip column have inside its pages, today?"

"You remember the British curse breaker that works for Gringotts? The really sexy one with red hair? I think I gushed about him when I first started a few months ago?"

"Yeah, Bill Weasley, right?"

"The very one. Anyway, turns out that he caused an avalanche of shattered hearts within our ranks of female- and some male- curse breakers. Seems he's been seeing some French witch, and word has it that she's part Veela."

Seraphina raised an eyebrow. "Really? That is pretty juicy." she shot her friend a quick grin. "How's your heart?"

"Unscathed. Bill's hot as a goblin's forge, it's true… and maybe he made my heart flutter a bit for a few days the first time I worked with him on a team, but we're cool. I'm psyched for him, really. Anyway, she works for Gringotts, too. Her name's Fleur Delacour."

Seraphina laughed. The girl was a total sweetheart, and it cracked Seraphina up to think that this perpetual sunny day in human form was a curse breaker taking treasure from dead people.

"So, who's grave were you robbing this time?" she snickered.

"Eh, grave robbing is such a harsh word. And technically, it's not grave robbing if I've got permission. It's for the bank… and it's not like they're going to miss it. They're dead."

Seraphina roared with laughter, so much so that Devesa had to pitch her voice over her. "But, for the record, it was some Chinese nobleman. Buried with his wives and all sorts of goodies."

"Like the bracelet that you're wearing right now?"

"Yep. One of the perks. As long as I hand over everything else, I get to keep one artifact that I like the best. You wouldn't _believe_ the curses that the bastard had put on his tomb, though. They were pretty nasty."

"Like what?"

"Well, one that melted your face off, and one that turns its victim into a terracotta soldier… do you know how many idiots tried to rob that grave?"

"Including you?" Lachesis drawled, looking frazzled and annoyed, and turned the teapot on. "Lots of them, I'm guessing."

"Oh, shut up. I'm not dead. And about twenty battalions. Rough estimate."

"Lovely." Seraphina said dryly, wrinkling her nose.

"I know, right? You'd think that they'd learn after seeing the other soldiers not to try the same thing…"

"Well, some people don't use their brains, if they have one… or maybe they were no-majs. Though, with that number, I'm guessing that those grave robbers just got stupider and stupider as time went on.

The three women laughed as the tea water started to whistle. Seraphina made the tea pour itself, and each grabbed a cup.

"So, how's it been for the two of you?"

"Eh, we got a request to help apprehend a European criminal today from England's Ministry of Magic. Apparently, they need outside help."

"You taking the job?" Devesa asked

"Maybe." Seraphina answered, as Lachesis snorted.

"Why only maybe?"

"We've got to see what the files say… and it also depends on how much of an ass the representative is when next we meet."

"Merlin, how much of an ass was he today?"

"It should be illegal. He looked at us as if we were incompetent idiots… something about his private school English accent just…"

"What Kesis is trying to say is that he was a total jerk. Personally, I thought he was just… rudely polite."

"What?" Devesa frowned, confused. Seraphina shrugged.

"To be honest, you had to have been there. He was so stiffly polite that it just seemed rude and obnoxiously arrogant."

"That made _no_ sense what- so ever."

"Again, you had to be there to get it. Seems he's got a few siblings who dislike him."

"No freaking duh. I'm not surprised in the least." Lachesis snarled.

"Enough, Kesis."

"Did this guy have any redeeming qualities?" the tiny blond enquired.

"He's got a hot older brother named Bill," Seraphina said with a grin.

"Wait a second, this dude's last name was Weasley?"

"Percy Weasley. He wasn't too bad looking, himself. Looked a bit like that picture you showed us of Bill Weasley. Only, shorter hair, slimmer, and with a sheen of polish over the rough good looks. Longer nose and blue eyes."

"Someone was paying too much attention…" Lachesis sneered.

Seraphina blinked and shrugged. "Eh, I've a weakness for redheads." She said with a grin. "Besides, you think he was hot too. You're just too annoyed with him to admit it."

"Because his nasty attitude was enough to dull the looks… enough to make him look like the backside of a troll." The blue haired woman snapped.

"Oh, so _that's_ why you were staring at his backside as he left, Kesis. Thanks for clearing that one up for me…"

"Shut the hell up, I was not."

"You were, but we can argue about that later. _I_ have paperwork to do- which I do _not_ put off until it resembles a nightmare- inducing tower of hell, so, goodbye."

Seraphina walked out before Lachesis could start again. Right up to the door right across from the library, the door that lead to a tower bedroom. She walked up the spiral staircase up to the second story of the tower, and sat at her desk.

She frowned as she sat, the feeling of premonition came over her for the second time that day- the first time had been an hour before Percy Weasley had walked into their office. Their lives- Hers, Lachesis', Devesa's, Liana's, and even her aunt's- were about to take a hell of a turn. Seraphina put her quill down, and stared at the paper. It sat, still blank on her desk, and she didn't feel like writing. She sipped the now cold tea and wrinkled her nose. She heated it up with magic.

She really hoped that she was just being silly, that it was a false alarm. She didn't want anything more to happen in her life. Big changes never turned out well for her.

' _Well,'_ she thought _'It's not like I have a choice in the matter. Not really…'_

She just hoped that nothing too bad would happen.

* * *

 _ **I do love the Weasley boys. Who doesn't? Actually, I love all of the Weasleys. They're all just amazing people. Anyway, I've been planning this out for a while. This is my brain baby, and the storyline is by no means cannon. Most of the couples are cannon, though, so never fear. Lachesis' name is pronounced Lakeesis, by the way. (I only add this because I thought the pronunciation for Lachesis was la- chess- is when I first heard it.)**_


	2. Redheads and Tempers

_**I only wish that I owned the spectacular world that is Harry Potter. However, I own all OC's that are in this.**_

 _ **Welcome, my readers, to chapter 2- be warned, there will be different languages in this, and as I use Google, which isn't the best of translators, the translations may be a bit off, but they do get the gist. All translations are in the AN at the bottom. Thank you for reading, and enjoy.**_

 _ **AOP**_

* * *

Chapter 2- Gingers and Tempers

Magic and Mischief

 _Two months after the events of chapter 1- May 1, 1995_

"I'm bored…" Lachesis sighed from her desk as she started to change her hair color simply to amuse herself. Pink, red, green, blond, purple, orange… she frowned as that quickly got old, and then, she decided to switch it up. She started to change it so that multiple colors came out in the long strands- pink and purple, blue and red, acid green and brown...

"Okay, no. that looks horrible." Seraphina said. Her nose scrunched up as she observed the rather hideous mix that made her think of vomit. "Though, if you're so bored, you can _always_ do your paperwork…"

Lachesis pouted, but turned her hair back to her go to color of Electric Blue. "But paperwork is boring too…" she wined.

"Then you'll just have to wait for Weasley to bring in the files that he promised to bring on our escapee." The brunette drawled.

"Two months is ridiculous, though. You'd think that they'd have gotten back to us the day after they came to us for help…"

"You do realize the whole government is a giant game of 'hurry up and wait', right?" Seraphina drawled.

As if the Cosmos heard Seraphina, a memo came from the front desk associate, Maya Lachlain, saying that Mr. Percy Weasley was waiting to come in. Seraphina laughed, while Lachesis frowned at the memo.

When Percy walked in, his face was a mask of calm- though Lachesis saw through the calm and into the actual emotion. The man was seething. She didn't know why, and really, she didn't care, but the swirling black emotion in his sapphire blue eyes (why the hell was she noticing the color of his eyes?) made her just a bit apprehensive…

… Which in turn made her just want to try her luck even more.

Seraphina must have seen the look in Lachesis' eyes, because she held out her hand for the files first. "We'll be done in a second, you might as well stay." Her tone was brisk as she took out the parchment.

He watched in amazement, as the brunette seemed only to scan the parchment for a few seconds before handing it over to the blue- haired woman. He blinked. His eyes went back to the girl.

Her hair was blue. Bright, electric blue. Her hair had been black the day before, a true black, devoid of all other color. He frowned, cocking his head to the side as her heterochromia eyes (which he was almost positive were on purpose now) scanned the page.

He was so busy inspecting the young woman's appearance that he did not notice the other one glaring at him. She cleared her throat and his head shot to her.

"I don't like it." She snapped. "Did the idiots who handled the original investigation even _do_ any investigating? Because I am not seeing it."

Percy shrugged. "Honestly, the whole thing took place about fourteen years ago- I was far too young to even know about it." He replied stiffly. Lachesis let out a snarl. "From what I'm seeing in the report, they took witness reports, but little else."

"So?"

"Eyewitness reports are… fallible. An eyewitness could talk with others and suddenly believe something different, or, in most cases, they just weren't paying attention. Also, you have mostly _no-maj_ witnesses and victims- who are _known_ to ignore magic. What if it wasn't Black?"

Percy sighed. "The thought _has_ crossed my mind… however, it was not for me to question."

Lachesis sighed. "Look, according to the witness reports that you have, Black had his wand drawn, but he was laughing. He didn't _say_ anything, he didn't wave his wand. He was standing there, _laughing_."

Seraphina smirked. "and then, there's the finger." She put up. "A finger- which was supposed to have been _blown_ off of a body….and it was very clearly _cut_ off. Can you explain that? _Or_ , why- in an explosion that killed multiple people, there wasn't _anything but a finger left of Pettigrew_?"

"You think that Black is innocent?" the redhead stated.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying there isn't enough actual evidence, in fact, there is _no_ actual evidence. It's all circumstantial and hearsay. I'm saying there's a _very_ good chance that Black is innocent." The younger of the two stated.

Percy was dumbfounded. This… child (even he could tell that she wasn't any older than his twin brothers- maybe even younger) had found every flaw in that report. However, it wasn't for him to decide.

Far too many things were going on in England right now, and he needed to get back. "Whatever you decide, please do so in the next few months." He said, exhaustion in his voice. "I need to get back."

"I have a question, Mr. Weasley." He turned around, to stare into Lachesis Hyde's gold and silver eyes. "What would that be, _Miss Hyde_?" he returned.

"In our courts, we give those facing charges the chance of proving themselves innocent. By taking Veritisirum- something I'm sure you've heard of. If the convicted person takes it, we give it to them. I know that in England, you have the same option… as well as the use of the _Prior Incantato_ spell. Why were these methods not used in this case?"

Percy's blue eyes narrowed. Her jeering tone was starting to annoy him. "Miss Hyde, I find it rather difficult to believe that every person convicted in your legal system has subjected themselves to those particular methods."

She snorted. "You didn't give an answer to the question, Weasley. I find it _difficult to believe_ that you don't know the answer."

"You'd have to ask those in charge of the hearings… I'm just… the court scribe, Hyde." He smirked. The blue haired woman coughed, covering up something else, something that he heard quite well as " _Bullshit._ "

He shrugged at her, glacial blue eyes turbulent with his temper, which he had thrown a chokehold around. He struggled with it, as if it were a wolf crouching on a hunt. The Weasley temper (or, in this case, _Prewett_ , as, much like his youngest siblings, Ron and Ginny, he had inherited his disposition from his mother), was notoriously difficult to control. He was already on a bit of a strain because of his boss- who had gone missing.

She sneered before handing the parchment scrolls back to him, and looked over at Seraphina. The brunette was frowning, and she sighed, shaking her head. "I honestly can't give you an answer right now on whether or not we'll help. It reeks of mishandling. He has _no less_ than a _fifty percent chance_ of being innocent- and that's just from what's on that parchment."

Percy drew in a deep breath, before answering slowly, "from what I've heard, Sirius Black was one of the many to not get a trial at all. The time in which he was convicted was a _very_ dark time in England's wizarding community. You- Know-Who had just been destroyed, his followers were being gathered up. No one knew who had done what, or who had been responsible for what. It is very possible that your hunch is correct in that he is innocent."

"And you didn't tell us this before… _why_?" Lachesis snarled.

He shrugged. "You didn't let me get a word in edgewise until now. We will await your answer in a month, like I said." He replied. "I need to go now.

* * *

When he returned to London, the first thing that he did was go to the Leaky Cauldron. He figured that he could put off the ministry for a few minutes, and he needed a pick-me- up. This whole thing was getting to be harder than it should be.

Between the Minister of Magic and _his_ problems, and _this_ little job that they'd put him on, all he wanted was some peace and quiet… and a drink. As he examined his beer- which was smoking at the rim, he reflected on what had been said.

Then, he shrugged and took a gulp. It wasn't for him to decide. Percy smirked- he was more interested in what the Ministry would do when they realized that one of the Aurors that they were trying to get help from was a sixteen-year-old.

* * *

After Percy Weasley left the office, Seraphina returned to the paperwork she had been steadily working on. Across from her Lachesis grumbled about having to do the same thing. Seraphina smirked over at the metamorphmagus before turning back. She was almost done. Lachesis, however, had way more.

"If you hate paperwork so much, why do you let it pile up so much?" She asked. "It doesn't get quite so out of hand if you just get it done… and you get more free time…"

"I tell myself that, but I can't make myself do it." The Native American woman groaned, leaning back in her chair, letting her head loll back.

"Force yourself to do it. That's what I do. Honestly, though, how did you graduate from Ilvermorny in the first place, if you can't even do the paperwork?"

"Screw off, Seraph."

"Nah, too much work to do."

"Bitch…"

"To which I must ask: out of the two of us here, which of us has wolf blood? Who's the _real_ bitch, here?"

"Go to hell, Seraphina."

"Tried. I got kicked out. The Devil wouldn't have me."

"Try again."

"I did. Got the t-shirt and the coffee mug. They still kicked me back here… apparently, they thought I would take over." Lachesis snorted. "Oh, please."

"Please what?" the other didn't answer, as she was too busy looking at her paperwork. Seraphina chuckled, having gotten the last word. She shook her head and went back to her _own_ paperwork.

Two hours in, Her head started hurting, a sign of an impending prophesy. She sighed, and lay her head on the desk. She did not want to have to do this now. And she kept her head down, as she heard Lachesis' voice once more. "I was surprised, though. When he first came in, I thought that he would have gotten us the documents on the case the next day. He brought us the stuff two months after the fact…"

"He was busy, Lachesis. He has job, too." Her voice had started to slur.

"Eh, whatever." The other woman rolled her eyes. She had not yet caught on to her sister's present condition.

Meanwhile, done with her work, Seraphina closed her eyes, trying to sooth away the migraine that was starting behind her eyes.

She didn't notice when she'd fallen asleep.

 _She looked around and her face went pale. This couldn't be right. Why was she in a graveyard? She winced, when she heard:_

" _Bone… -ather, you… revive…- son…" She looked over, feeling ill, as she observed the bubbling cauldron, with a short, fat, middle aged man standing over it. A boy was bound on the ground, about fourteen years old, and she could see his messy black hair from where she was. A dead body of another boy- this one looked about 17._

 _She looked on in horror as she watched the short wizard shuffle over to the bound teenager on the ground, muttering so quietly that Seraphina could not hear, but she_ _saw_ _the man take a silver knife to the boy's wrist_

She gasped as she woke up. Lachesis was frowning at her as she sat bolt upright, the dream instantly became foggy. She shivered as she sat up. "I… think we need to go to England…"

Lachesis frowned. "What? Why?"

Seraphina just shook her head. "I… I saw… something _bad_." She whispered. "Soon, too." She shuddered. "God, I'm cold…"

Lachesis shot up, and walked over to her foster- sister. Her gold and silver eyes darkened with worry.

"What did you see, Seraphina?" she snapped, voice like a whiplash.

Seraphina shook her head. "A fourteen-year-old boy, a person shrouded in a hood, a seventeen-year-old who had just been killed. The one with the cloak was cutting the living boy's wrist…. He was muttering something… a spell of some sort. _Really_ dark magic…. I couldn't make it out."

Lachesis cursed, and moved over to the teapot that was in the room. She waved her wand at it, and steam formed. She poured her younger sister a cup, added a shot of fire- whiskey, and set it in front of her.

"Drink it." She ordered. Seraphina, too weak (mentally) to argue simply nodded and took a sip, shuddering as the fire whiskey hit her stomach. Lachesis, on the other hand muttered darkly under her breath as she watched Seraphina drink.

"Looks like we're taking the job…" she muttered.

Seraphina smiled dryly as she sagged against the back of her chair. "Guess so…" she murmured.

* * *

At home, Seraphina collapsed on the couch. She was tired, something that always happened when she had visions. Funny, though, she'd never made a prophesy. Not really. As she was one of the few seers who was able to remember her visions- or, at least remember that she had them, she never felt the need to speak them out.

She picked up the phone on its first ring.

"Hullo?" she groaned, her voice heavy.

"Sari, dear… Lachesis told me that you had another vision." Seraphina smiled as she heard her adoptive mother's voice. She could _hear_ the worried frown that Jaci Hyde was undoubtedly wearing

"Mom…" she muttered. "Hey."

"Are you okay, dear?"

"Yeah… It's just…. I'm tired." Seraphina sighed. "Seeing these things takes it out of me."

"What did you see this time?" Jaci asked. Seraphina shook her head. "I… don't remember much about it anymore. Just two teenagers, one dead, one tied up and getting his arm cut by a middle-aged man in a cloak that covered his appearance. There was a cauldron, and a black magic spell."

Jaci was silent for a moment as she took in what her adoptive daughter had said. Slowly, the spoke. "Seraphina, I don't suppose it has anything to do with… _her_ … does it?"

Seraphina paled. How could she not know who Jaci was talking about? It would be ludicrous, as the woman in question- and Seraphina dared not even _think_ her name- had been the reason Seraphina had wanted to become an Auror in the first place.

"No… I don't think so anyway." She muttered. She heard Jaci let out a breath of relief. To be honest, Seraphina had worried, too.

How could she not? She wondered if Lachesis had thought about it, too. If so, Seraphina needed to find the other woman to tell her the contrary. "very well, my dear. I just wanted to check on you…. I need to know you're all right."

Seraphina smiled at the phone. "Thanks, mom." She whispered. Jaci chuckled. "No problem. I need to go, now. Your father's coming home soon. I need to start dinner."

Jaci hung up first and Seraphina stretched, before getting up. "Lachesis!" she called, hoping that the metamorphmagus was somewhere on the first level of the mansion. As luck would have it, she was in the kitchen, a pint of ice- cream in her hand.

"Seraph." She grinned, and pulled out another pint from the freezer. Shoving it at Seraphina, she examined the younger woman.

She was, Lachesis speculated, full of potential. She had the ability to be ridiculously pretty, if she tried, with her long, riotously curly dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Her skin was so tanned it was almost brown. She was a bit on the short side, Lachesis thought, but not too short. She preferred to dress in robes of deep, blood red.

She also looked tired. Not that one would see it in passing- Seraphina was a vivacious girl who never seemed to run out of energy. In fact, Lachesis could count on one hand the times she had seen Seraphina actually tired…

And even less times when the girl _admitted_ to being tired.

Every single time happened when she had come into contact with her step mother. Not Jaci. No, Jaci and Mingan Hyde had adopted the brunette when she had been about 10… after a string of problems with other foster homes starting at age eight.

Of course, most of the homes claimed that it was Seraphina… and as it was mostly no-maj families that the young girl had been put with, it seemed to hold true. Until one day, after she had been placed with Jaci and Mingan, a letter came.

As well as a teacher. From Ilvermorny academy of magic. As a wizarding family, the Hydes had suspected that Seraphina was a witch. However, that wasn't to say that Seraphina hadn't had a major attitude problem, because she had. The trouble that she'd gotten into in the first week at Ilvermorny alone had nearly gotten the girl expelled.

That had been until the former Auror- turned headmaster of Ilvermorny stepped in. He had managed to do what Jaci and Mingan Hyde had not been able to do since they took the girl in. He had found out why she was acting out, and he had mentored her.

One of the major reasons (when it came to school, at least) had been that she was not challenged. The other… was a woman by the name of Adira… Adira O'Brian, née Shafiq. Her step-mother.

Lachesis didn't know the whole story. She knew that whatever had happened had messed with Seraphina, and badly. Every time she had a lead- whether it was a dead lead or not- on Adira's whereabouts, she flew off the handle, going into hunter mode.

Or, at least, that's what Lachesis called it. Seraphina stopped being an Auror, and became an exterminator. When Lachesis asked her about it, Seraphina did not answer. Lachesis figured that she'd tell them when she was ready.

She hadn't pushed, and she wouldn't.

"You want to take the job in England, don't you?"

Seraphina gave her a grin. "Of course, I do. It only makes sense. The flash I had… It happened in England."

Lachesis nodded. "We should pack, then. We need somewhere to live while we're there. I don't want to apparate all the way back here every damn night…"

Seraphina's grin got wider. "no need to worry about that. I have a house in England… or, my mother's family has a house there."

Lachesis blinked, cocking her head to the side. "You've never mentioned…"

Seraphina shrugged. "It never came up." She replied. "I've actually never been there, and I don't know if anyone lives there now. From what my dad told me before he died… well, my aunt Mira disappeared. My other aunt was given up for adoption at birth, so she wouldn't know about it…"

"Why was your other aunt given up at birth?"

"Because my grandfather was an asshole, and Aunt Erika is a squib."

"That's ridiculous." Devisa said, a teacup in her own hands. Seraphina shrugged again. "Well, my grandfather was… a pure blood extremist. He believed that being a pure blood wizard made you elite. Being descended from Merlin meant that it would be a disgrace to have a squib."

Lachesis snorted, and Devisa frowned. "That's… messed up." The small blond haired curse breaker said.

It was about then that they heard a crash coming from the parlor. Followed by a young woman's voice. Devisa smiled as the voice carried into the room that the other three occupied. "Looks like Lianah's back." She stated.

The sound of breaking glass was enough for Seraphina to lurch off the couch, and run to the other room. She stopped in front of the small sitting room right off the main entrance. Throwing glass collectables. Seraphina winced. She really hoped that those weren't hers, though she couldn't really think over the sound of the other woman's yelling.

"That _arrogant_ son of a _bitch_!" the redhead shrieked, tone grating on Seraphina's ears. " _Evil,_ _Conniving_ Two-Eyed _Toad_!" there was a crash as she threw a glass dog at the wall. "Newt- headed _Bastard_!" another clang as something- Seraphina was sure was the goblin made silver platter- hit the wall.

Seraphina walked in, and saw the full extent of the carnage left over. Lianah Evans stood in the middle; long, dark wine red hair flying around her, and her bottle green eyes were flashing as sparks flew out of the tip of her wand.

"Good afternoon, Lee." She said mildly, stepping over the glass- thank the gods, she'd yet to take off her shoes.

Sharp green eyes met deep, dark-brown. Oh, yes, Lianah Evans was absolutely furious. Seraphina gave a sardonic grin, remembering what had happened the last time someone had had the misfortune to displease the herbalist. IT had not ended well for him… Lianah took the term 'the temper of a redhead' to a whole new, and terrifying, level.

"How are you today?" Seraphina's tone was ironic. Lianah hissed. "If it wasn't for the law, I'd kill him myself!"

"And who is it, pray tell, that put you in such a tizzy?"

She said nothing, so Seraphina sighed. "Does breaking the thousands of galleons worth of nick-knacks help?" she asked.

"It makes me feel better."

"Has it done so thus far?"

" _Oui *****_." Liana glared.

Seraphina grinned. "You gonna fix the mess?" the redhead snorted. "Of course I am." She had started to calm down, Seraphina noted with relief.

"So… who got you so angry, and is he alive?"

"Oh, he is still among the living, though I truly hope one of his dragons would fry him to a crisp…" Seraphina winced, not thinking that to be a fate to wish on anyone. "Okay… what did he do?"

"You mean besides landing a dragon on an extremely rare type of plant that I happened to be trying to study? Besides nearly killing _me_ with said landing? Or perhaps blaming _me_ for the entire situation because _obviously_ , I could have been perfectly fine somewhere _else_ studying something _different_?" she snarled.

"Are you going to answer the first question, or am I going to have to call him he-who-must-not-be-named? Because, I'm pretty sure that's what they call Voldemort… And as much of a jerk this guy sounds like, I don't think he's a dark wizard…"

The redhead hissed. " _Charlie Weasley_ "

Seraphina blinked, an eyebrow shooting up in surprise. "Weasley?" she asked, surprised, "well, that's interesting…"

" _Pour l'amour de Dieu, de quoi parlez-vous_ _ *****_?" the redhead snapped, patience apparently waning to the point of talking in french.

IT was something that they all did, especially after moving so close to the French Quarter of New Orleans- or, rather, close enough to the quarter to pick up a slight Cajun accent and a rather respectable amount of French, but for Lianah, who had (like Seraphina) been born in England, but raised in the French Quarter, it was impossible to think that she would not be integrated into the Cajun society.

Seraphina, being just as fluent in French as Seraphina had no problem understanding her friend. "Ah, it's just that... well, Dev has that friend in England who's a curse breaker whose name is Bill Weasley, and Lachesis and I had to deal with an English wizard who was named Percy Weasley."

"How many Weasleys _are_ there?" Lianah sounded revolted at the thought of there being more.

Seraphina grinned. "Well, there are more than just three… I had a run in with a guy around my age, when I went overseas to take all those exams- before I met you and Dev- when I was about thirteen… actually, there were two of them…"

"How do you know they were Weasleys?" the other asked, finally calming down more. Seraphina shrugged. "Well, the man who was chasing them was screaming 'Get back here, Weasleys!' as they ran down the hall, and one ran into me."

"That brings the total up to five…"

"According to the Weasley we met in the office, he has six siblings, five brothers and a sister."

The effect of that statement on Lianah was instantaneous as the other young woman went a startling shade of lime green. " _Cher Dieu_ … there's… _seven_ of them?"

"So it seems…"

"Are all of them redheaded, obnoxious and British?"

"Only one of the ones I've met are obnoxious, but the ones I've met are all redheaded," she smirked, suddenly, casting a sidelong glance, "Rather attractive, too. How about yours?"

The redhead gave her a dirty look "Die."

"Na, having too much fun here. Don't take your temper out on me… it's rude."

"Go to hell."

"Funny, I've been there… got the t-shirt and the coffee mug."

"Screw off."

"Are you going to be original, Lianah…? Because I've _heard_ it all before…"

"Smart ass." Lianah hissed as Seraphina walked back out of the room.

The brunette turned to smirk at the redhead. "Better than being a dumbass." She called back in a sing-song voice as she waltzed up the stairs to her room.

Upon entering, she closed and locked the door. She cast privacy spells and took out her wand. She frowned as she gazed at the gorgeous thing. 13 inches, Silver-Lime with a thunderbird feather core. Though she didn't use it as much as others- learning wandless magic had been necessary in her own past, for many reasons- It was her prized possession.

She grinned as she examined her wand. It was a pretty rare type of wood in wand use, as it was highly regarded- especially for seers. The Thunderbird feather inside had been a hell of a bird, who, according to the wandmaker, had nearly taken the eye of the one who had plucked his tail feather, and left nasty scars (apparently) on his handlers' arms.

She sighed as she made herself comfortable and tried something she hadn't done in a while. She didn't even know if she could do it anymore, but she needed to see if she was able to channel her visions.

* * *

While Seraphina was upstairs, working on 'opening her inner eye', Lianah was frowning into her cup of tea, with Lachesis. The two did not speak, instead choosing to sit in complete silence, meditating upon their own thoughts.

It was a comfortable silence, Lianah thought, which was something that was difficult to achieve with anyone that was not close. Lianah was seething inwardly as thoughts of a tall, built redhead invaded her conscious, making her mood plummet.

Sharp blue eyes and a wicked, arrogant smirk. She supposed that in his line of work, a certain conceit was required, but he had seemed to take it to a whole new level. She had (up until two days ago) a very symbiotic relationship with the dragon researchers/ tamers. If they didn't bother her, she didn't bother them.

Most of them had been rather helpful, which she assumed was because working with dragons was rather dangerous, and the need to know the herbs and plants with medical properties (especially those which helped burns and toxins). She was rather good at potions, while many of them were mediocre at best, so she had made many of the medicinal potions that they had needed. She had not- until that day- actually met the famous Charlie Weasley.

Lachesis' thought strayed more toward Seraphina who was up in her room, attempting to bring on visions. She was already packed. She didn't know when they would go, but she had known- from almost the moment the case file was set on their desks, that they would be taking the case.

She had sent along an owl to the… _ministry wizard_ that had been put in charge of this. She figured that she'd have an reply within a few days.

Much like the other young woman in the room, her thoughts strayed to the redhead that had appeared in her own office.

While Percy Weasley had not nearly killed her with a dragon, he had been oddly insulting. In a way that was rudely polite. Up until the end, where he just pissed her off. To be fair, she thought (though she personally did not want to think about it), she had not been all that polite either.

She could readily admit to being a bitch… out of nothing other than a first impression of him being way too stiff.

She still didn't like him… though she supposed that she'd have to deal with him quite a bit with Seraphina playing the buffer.

She didn't know that only half of that was correct… and not in a way she would like.

* * *

 _ **Well, that took a while… and I'm pretty sure that it's longer than the original chapter 2. Chapter 3 will be up as soon as possible, I'm already writing it, so never fear. As always, read and review.**_

 _ ***French Translations:**_

 _ **Yes**_

 _ **for the love of god, what are you talking about**_


	3. Misconceptions of Youth

_**This was actually kind of fun to write. New characters introduced and all, though you won't see much of them for a while after this chapter. Have fun. And review.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER.**_

* * *

Magic and Mischief

Chapter 3- Misconceptions of Youth

It took about three days for Percy Weasley to send the owl replying to Lachesis' message. During the time in question, the metamorphmagus had become an aunt to a half- werewolf child. She had celebrated with her family and friends. Seraphina and Lachesis both congratulated their brother with Lianah and Devisa who were honorary aunts.

They named their baby girl Rigel Luna Hyde.

The four women left the party earlier than usual, as Seraphina had told Lachesis that there was a letter for work waiting for them… and Lachesis wanted to dodge her mother, who had brought an 'acquaintance' from somewhere or another to set her daughter up with.

The letter had stated that the minister of magic wanted to speak with them… On the first of July. Lachesis raged inwardly at the curt, short message, not knowing exactly _why_ the note (written in the Weasley's hand no doubt, the blue haired witch though, unconsciously turning her hair the same shade of red that he had sported) pissed her off so much.

Seraphina just laughed at her.

Lianah had been called back to Romania, something about the Asphodel she'd been studying on her last trip growing with something else entirely. Devisa had gotten another job working on a tomb in South America.

It took a month for the two Aurors to get ready for their own adventure. Lachesis and Seraphina had had to tell their mother that they'd be gone for an indefinite amount of time, and they had a few cases to finish up before they left.

One was a particularly nasty one dealing with a Werewolf that Seraphina had put four months prior- he had escaped prison, and was currently on a manhunt (or, woman hunt, as the wolf held quite a grudge against the brunette Auror for putting him away in the first place).

He had a nasty habit of going after kids, which was something that he shared with a distant cousin of his. His name was Raoul Greyback.

Seraphina and Lachesis had had no choice but to hunt for him right after the full moon... they had been able to enlist the help of Lianah and Devisa, and the four women took advantage of their more hidden abilities.

Thankfully, their Animagi forms where well equipped to handle large creatures such as werewolves, the least capable of them all was, Devisa who shifted into a gazelle. Lianah could turn into a red fox, Seraphina turned into a panther (ostentatious until you considered that she spent much of her childhood in rain forests), and Lianah herself, shifted into a wolf.

They, like a few other wizards and witches, were unregistered animagi, making it difficult for others who they were tracking to evade them.

What they found when they caught up with the wolves was horrific. The two adults lay dead, and there were signs of a struggle that included magic. The scene went so far beyond gory that Lachesis and Seraphina had not been able to stay, Lianah and Devisa had struggled to show no emotion, though both had wanted to vomit at the sight.

They followed the trail of blood to a small clearing in the woods, where the _pack_ of werewolves that were led by Greyback were… celebrating that night's 'victories'… and using the children of the dead couple as party favors.

The two were still alive, thank the gods, but the five-year-old boy had been bitten, and were having fun watching the not yet transformed boy turn feral, scratching the seven-year-old girl. Lachesis snapped at the scene, taking down Greyback with such a ferocity that Seraphina wondered if the wolf was the one in control.

Seraphina and Lianah took on the others in the pack, finishing them off (without killing them, of course) quickly, as without the werewolf protecting them, they were far more vulnerable. Afterwards, the fox and panther went to go drag their sister from the prone form of Raoul Greyback before she killed him.

They took the pack into custody, and Lianah took temporary custody of the two children, who were named Dominic and Natalya Dubrinski. Their only family had been their parents, and they were wizarding children.

For his crimes, Greyback was sentenced to death. For her part, Seraphina hoped that it would be death by poison. Lachesis wanted him to suffer. The next problem they'd had to face was the fact that the five-year-old Dominic Dubrinski- Hyde (Lachesis had been granted permanent custody after finding that the two had nowhere else to go) had been bitten during the full moon, making him a werewolf.

The fact that no one under the age of 7 had ever survived a werewolf bite after the first full moon made the newly appointed mother panic. She had taken Dominic and Natalya to her parents, who happened to be tribal elders.

They had come up with a solution in the wolfbane potion, until, Jaci told her daughter, he learned to coexist with the wolf that now lay inside of him. Lachesis had asked her brother and her father to teach Dominic how to do so, as both her father and brother were werewolves themselves.

For Natalya, who had been traumatized in a completely different fashion, though, Lachesis had wanted Seraphina, who had dealt with childhood trauma herself, to talk to the girl. Seraphina worked with Natalya, who was now her niece, on becoming more emotionally stable.

The healing process was not nearly complete, though the month flew by faster than a firebolt. Soon, it was time to go to England to meet with the Minister for magic, and Lachesis had decided to leave the children with her parents. Natalya clung to her new mother and aunt, begging them not to go, to which Seraphina had told her that they didn't have a choice.

She told the girl that she could send as many letters as she wanted, if that helped, and that she'd answer every single one of them. The girl agreed to these terms, and let go of Seraphina. Lachesis shared a tearful goodbye with both children and her parents.

Neither knew how long they'd be gone… but both hoped that it wouldn't be long….

…

Getting to England wasn't difficult, neither was finding the large castle in the highlands that had been named "MacGregor Hall", though the latter was more difficult, as the castle was protected by every possible spell that could be used to hide it from others of both magical or non-magical blood. Seraphina, being one of the last few MacGregors of the magical bloodline, was able to find it only because of that.

One of the many surprises came once they got inside… and they were greeted by a house- elf, by the name of Dottie.

Seraphina had grinned ruefully at the news, but had taken it rather well (she had suspected that there may have been something like that, as she also knew that her mother's family was loaded.) They had settled in relatively easily before it was time.

Percy Weasley (who Lachesis had concluded had become an errand boy) had come to escort them to the ministry. The redhead had looked rather…peaky, Lachesis thought, comparing him to what he had looked like not two months ago. He was leaner than he had been, his face paler, his cheeks seemed more hollow, as if he hadn't been eating properly, bringing out the sharpness of his cheekbones. His blue eyes had been sharp and distraught. He hid it well, though.

As they entered the Ministry of Magic, quite a few people stopped to stare at the two. An obviously underage witch (Seraphina smirked, her sixteenth birthday had been back in December of last year) and a woman with an unusual hair color (Lachesis made a point at that moment to make her hair a brilliant electric blue) who looked not much older.

Seraphina would swear that they were getting some rather nasty glares from some of the patrons and employees. "Aren't we all on the same side, here?" Lachesis muttered darkly, shooting her own glares toward those who were sneering at her.

"I think they feel a bit threatened by us." Seraphina stage whispered. "The fact that we're American, and I'm the same age as some of their children who are in school right now."

"I can understand that. You've been an Auror since you were, what? Thirteen…"

"Well, well… that is an interesting discovery…" another voice sneered. Lachesis frowned as she saw Percy stiffen up. She blinked and looked toward the speaker. She and Seraphina were faced with a tall, slim man with long, silver blond hair, grey eyes and black robes that looked ridiculously expensive.

Seraphina's eyes narrowed, and Lachesis- acting out of character- raised a blue eyebrow. "I'm sorry," she all but purred, "can we help you with something, Mr. …?"

"Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy." The man sneered. "American, hm?"

"Is that a problem for you, Malfoy?" Seraphina's voice had gone glacially cold. "Because I do believe that it was _your_ minister who contacted us in the first place."

"Where is your wand, little girl?"

Dark eyes flashed as Seraphina glared at the blond- haired man, Lachesis noticed Percy moving, trying to place himself between the two… and failing. "I don't believe that is any of your concern." She sneered.

"The minister will see you now, Miss. Hyde, Miss. O'Brian." An aid said, breaking the cold war that was brewing between the four.

Percy drew himself up, and Lachesis completely forgot about the Malfoy. She watched as his face was set in a scowl, and looked toward the direction he seemed to have been drawn to. She was surprised to see yet another redhead, this one with a receding hairline and tattered robes, wearing a scowl much like Percy's walking past him.

Maybe she shouldn't have noticed, but Lachesis could have sworn that the young of the redheads winced a bit.

And then, the blond man opened his rather insulting mouth again. "Well, Arthur Weasley… how's the family? Still eating scraps out of the pig's though?"

The older redhead froze, and turned, blue eye twitching behind his glasses, sending the blond a look that would curdle milk, but that was all. He did not speak. He turned again, his eyes, Lachesis noted lingering on Percy with acute disappointment. But, the younger redhead had not noticed, as his own- now ice colored blue eyes were narrowed at Mr. Malfoy, who had just blatantly insulted his family.

Lachesis frowned, inferring that the elder Weasley's decision to walk away was not the norm for this man… and was worried at her own reaction to the insult of the other man's family. She herself had had to hold herself back from hexing the arrogant asshole.

The promise of retaliation was in those piercing blue eyes, but he turned back to the women. Lachesis' heart skipped a beat when his hard crystal eyes fell on her. "This way, please," He said it quietly, voice a bit rough with held back temper. She felt a shiver along her spine, and was disturbed to find that she kind of liked the feeling.

Percy's reaction to the blond man's words were surprising to Lachesis as well. She pondered this as they were led by the redhead to Fudge's office. She didn't see Seraphina's sly smirk as she studied the elder woman, but she did hear the French.

" _Regarde-t-il son cul?_ ***** "

Kesis felt her face go red. "Spirts be damned, Seraph, I am doing _no_ such thing." She hissed back. How could Seraphina ask her that?"

"Liar." Seraphina snickered.

"Can you prove it?"

Seraphina laughed quietly as they stopped in front of a short, portly man with steel grey hair. He wore pinstriped robes, and a lime green bowler hat adorned his desk top. Seraphina blinked, both repulsed and interested by the man's apparent lack in style. Who wore a lime green bowler hat?

She watched with amusement as the man gave a doubletake at Seraphina. She supposed that she couldn't quite blame him for the reaction- it wasn't every day that you come across an Auror at any stage as young as she was. The fact of the matter was, she had to fight tooth and nail to get out into field work when she had.

"thank you both for coming on such short notice." The man's voice was stiff. Seraphina frowned. Lachesis shrugged.

"What I want to know is why we're _here_. You asked for help in re-capturing an escaped convict." Seraphina said it quietly.

"Well, that is…" Fudge looked rather uncomfortable. So much so, in fact, that the two women had to wonder what exactly was going on. "We have… decided on a different course of action… as Miss O'Brian is under age, that is to say, she is under the age of seventeen..."

"First of all, I am _right_ here. I _can_ hear you. Second, what does my being underage have anything to do with _anything?"_ Seraphina's tone had gone frigid. The air around the four (Percy was still there) prickled with repressed power, and the redhead noted with surprise that frost had started forming on the floor.

"The… err Wizengamot has expressed concern over you doing the job- As an underaged witch, they feel that there is danger that you should not be facing, and…" he faltered at the look that took over Seraphina's face.

"The _dangers_ that I would be facing?" she snarled, "Minister, let me _tell_ you about the _dangers that I've faced, shall I?"_ she started advancing on the older man as a slightly unhinged look came into her eyes. Her face was twisted. "The things I could tell you about the _dangers_ that I've faced could turn you into a fucking vegetable, _minister_."

This was not the first time that Lachesis had seen that look on Seraphina's face- though it had been a while. That almost feral look had been on her face for the first few months after her parents had taken her in.

"N-nevertheless, the wizengamot members have all agreed that, until you are seventeen, you will have no part of this."

"Oh, what a load of bull-"

"Now see here, Miss O'Brian," the minister gasped, "I cannot control what the council says…"

"Look, I worked my _ass_ off to get to where I am, and until this last year, I've been on desk work. I was only able to get _out_ of deskwork, because I did the jobs that the field Aurors were supposed to do better than them. I had to get special fucking permission to be able to do what I can, and I had to beg for that…"

"That is America, not England." Fudge snapped. Seraphina snorted.

"Yes, because you brits are _so_ against letting children get into life threatening situations…" she hissed. "Oh, and let's not forget the part where you're having the _news- paper_ harassing a fifteen-year-old boy simply because he said something that _you_ don't like… oh, I know about that, minister." She snapped, as the Fudge looked rather stupefied at the comment. "Snide little comments can be counted as harassment… in fact, the no-maj's have a term for that. Slander. You get into a _lot_ of trouble with that shit. Especially if it's a _child_."

Her dark eyes flashed. Lachesis snarled, and took her arm. "Seraphina, it's not just this glorified desk-jockey that made the decision…" she muttered. Seraphina gave a wordless snarl.

"So?" she hissed, "The whole thing _reeks_ of hypocrisy, Kesis! I'm a fucking Auror!"

"My dear girl," Fudge gasped, "I don't know how it works in America, but I can assure you that we do all that is possible to protect those who are underaged."

Seraphina snorted. "Oh, really? Five years ago, three students at Hogwarts nearly got themselves killed. Four years ago, like, four students _and_ a ghost at Hogwarts were petrified, two students put their lives in danger to save a girl who was kidnapped. One of them fought a _basalisk_. _Last month, a student died in a motherfucking graveyard while the sonofabitch who had my mother killed was brought back to life!_ "

As Seraphina screamed at the minister of magic, the man backed away from her screaming. Percy Weasley had started to help Lachesis hold the brunette back from pouncing on the minister. "Don't _tell me_ that you do things _differently_! I had to _beg_ to get off of deskwork."

"N-nevertheless, we have decided that, until such time that you become of age, you will stay at Hogwarts-"

" _WHAT?!"_

"as a teacher."

Seraphina's brilliantly scarlet face seemed to swell. Her dark brown eyes flashed, and she hissed.

"Forgive me for the intrusion… I seemed to have been called at a bad time?" the three facing the minister turned, Percy immediately removed his hand from Seraphina's shoulder, and stiffened up. Fudge looked… well, both angry and relieved at the same time.

"Dumbledore…." The man grumbled. The tall, elderly man smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "How may I be of service to you, minister?"

"I've found you a defense against the dark arts teacher." The man snapped. Seraphina gaped. "Oi, don't you have to ask _me_ first?"

"You can either be a teacher or a student." The minister snapped. "That is the Wizengamot's decision."

Seraphina gaped at Fudge. She honestly didn't know what to say to this. She was an Auror for the gods' sakes. Not a teacher, and some of the students she would be expected to teach were…. Her age and a year older. Some of them would be two years older.

Dumbledore turned to her, a wry grin on his face. "I would have no problems with this, minister, of course… as I have not been able to find a teacher myself."

She could tell he was about as happy as she was at this, and seeing that calmed her down a bit. Fudge could not seem to find his voice, Lachesis had let go of Seraphina as well, and Percy stood by the door, face set in a carefully impassive expression (or, rather, non-expression) as the professor spoke.

"However, it is, of course, her decision. I seem to recall, minister, that she has already taken the NEWTs. That being said, it would hardly be _realistic_ to put her back into school when she already knows the coursework. I believe that forcing Miss O'Brian to enroll as a student would be causing more trouble than anything."

"That is not… Dumbledore, see here…" the minister seemed to be at a loss of words. "Nor, I believe, will she be anything that you want in a professor at Hogwarts." The grim satisfaction in that made Seraphina blink. She looked at the headmaster, now, eyes narrowed.

"She will follow our course schedule…" Fudge growled, and once again, Seraphina's eyes snapped back to the minister, narrowed in annoyance.

" _She_ is still here, Minister, within hearing range I am not deaf. I will take the job." She snapped. "But I'll be teaching _my_ way. You've stuck me in a school, minister. You don't get to dictate how I teach. Especially, when I have to earn the respect of the students... you know, the ones that'll be a year older than me... and the same age as me... also the ones that are a year _younger_ than me."

Fudge fell silent as she spoke. She took a breath. "Now, I will _still_ help with the case- as a resource only- I need to stay in the loop. As I am now a _teacher_ ," she sneered the word, glaring at the minister once again, "I have to come up with a curriculum, and select the course books and all that nice shit you've shoved on me." She turned to leave. "I'll be waiting at the Leakey Cauldron, Lachesis." She called as she left the room.

Fudge frowned, but dropped into her chair. He looked rather exhausted. Lachesis snorted. "You can try and put her in a tidy little box like a puppet that you can control, minister, but she won't do anything that she doesn't want to."

She turned to Dumbledore. "You must be Professor Dumbledore. I'm Lachesis Hyde… Seraphina's partner."

Dumbledore smiled, though the young auror knew that he was still angry. "A pleasure, Miss Hyde." He said, his voice soft.

"She'll be a good teacher, if that's any consolation…" she informed him. Then, she sighed, and turned to Weasley. "Take me to the Aurors. I need to get in touch with the people on the case." She said.

The young man nodded, though Lachesis knew that he wanted to say something, she did not let him, and instead, she walked out, with him following right on her tail. She turned around as soon as they were both clear of the room, and turned to him. "That was your father… the redhead that walked away, right?"

Percy looked away, his blue eyes held a helpless sort of anger. "Yes. That was my father. Arthur Weasley." He said.

She cocked her head to the side, trying to decipher the look on his face. She couldn't figure it out for the life of her. She sighed and shook her head. It was obvious that the man wouldn't go any further than that.

They made it to the Auror department of the Ministry, where Percy dropped her off. "I have work to be getting back to," he muttered stiffly, before leaving her on her own. She had nodded and left him to it. "No problem, pal," she growled as he left.

She worked better without distractions, anyway… and Percy Weasley was a _major_ distraction. She snorted as she walked into the office. Heads turned her way instantly.

The first of which was a witch with brilliantly purple hair, who seemed to be about the same age as she was. Lachesis blinked as the woman came rushing over. "looks like we got some new meat, Shacklebolt!" She called as she did, and then turned to the blue haired girl.

"Metamorphmagus, right?" she asked with a grin. "So am I. I'm Tonks."

Lachesis smirked. "Lachesis Hyde." She said. "Nice to meet you."

"So, you're the American that they said would be coming?"

"One of them. The other got…"

Tonks snorted. "Oh, we all heard about that already. The wizengamot had their nickers all in a twist over that." She drawled. "Tell me, is she really all that?"

Lachesis grinned "Like you wouldn't believe." The two women walked over to a large map of the world, moving ink spots seemed to be dominating the surface.

"All of the places we've… err… _heard_ of Black being." Tonks said. Lachesis frowned, as she looked at her fellow metamorphmagus. The inflection in Tonks' voice had been odd. Almost as if the young woman had been lying.

A delicate blue brow rose, and the girl smirked to herself.

She hadn't known exactly what she'd stumbled on… though Tonks had immediately recognized her mistake. ' _Shit,'_ the purple haired Auror thought. ' _We'll have to bring her in on it… but… maybe I can get Shacklebolt to explain…'_

Unaware of the other woman's desperate mental scrambling, Lachesis frowned. She had been looking at the pocket watch that she carried around with her. She had told Seraphina that she'd meet her at the mansion when she was done.

She didn't know how the plans they'd made would change with her foster sister being assigned as a teacher at Hogwarts, but she suspected that the other woman would be living at the school. As she pondered her friend's fate, she didn't notice someone else walking up to her, so, when a deep, slow voice interrupted her thoughts, she gave a startled yelp and turned.

She gaped at how tall the man was. Over six feet, she knew, with deep, ebony skin that shined in the office's dim light. He was bald, with dark, deep set eyes and wore purple robes. He looked, Lachesis thought, like African royalty.

"Sorry for startling you, Miss Hyde, I presume?" he asked. She nodded, unable to find her voice as of yet. He chuckled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of the search for Sirius Black. I hear that you and your partner have been called to help with the search?"

"Uh," Lachesis coughed, clearing her throat. "Yes… and no. My partner has been taken off the case, though, she said that she'd stick around as a resource…. Give some insight." She grinned. "She wasn't too happy to be taken off the case."

"I don't doubt that," Shacklebolt drawled. Lachesis grinned. "However," the man stated, "We haven't gotten anywhere, today…"

Lachesis sighed. "Yeah. I only came here for the case files… so I could familiarize myself with the case." She replied. "I figured that I wouldn't get much done today, besides the debriefing that Fu- The minister gave me." She replied. Shacklebolt nodded, handing over the scrolls for the case.

She left the office a few minutes later, after talking to the other Aurors on the case. They didn't seem like a bad bunch to her, she reflected… in fact, they seemed ridiculously capable of their jobs- at least the ones that she had talked to. Even Tonks, who had shown herself to be as clumsy as she was eccentric, seemed to be rather good at her job.

So… why had they called Seraphina and herself in?

She frowned as she pondered this question, and nearly ran into someone. "Dear girl, you seem rather distracted…" she blinked up at the professor that seemed to have rubbed the minister for magic the wrong way.

"Professor Dumbledore… Pleasure to meet you." She said, smiling slightly.

"I wonder if you could chat for a few minutes with an old man?" he asked, his own smile made his beard lift. Lachesis nodded. "Sure. I was on my way out, anyway. I can spare a few moments." She sighed. "Would the Leaky Cauldron be a good place? I told Seraphina that I'd meet her there. She obviously needs a pick me up from that... debacle earlier."

"Yes. In fact, I would rather like to talk to Miss O'Brian as well." The elder professor stated It softly, and Lachesis cocked her head to the side. "You're treating her like an adult, and you don't even really know her…"

"Miss Hyde, I am an excellent judge of character, if I do say so myself. She is not the first 'child' that I have met who has matured beyond her years…." He intoned as they exited the large building. Lachesis snorted.

"trust me, Professor Dumbledore, you don't know the _half_ of it… hell, _I_ don't know the half of it… and she's my best friend and foster sister. I've known her since we were kids. We went to Ilvermorny together, and we were roommates, there too."

Dumbledore smiled lightly. "I daresay the brightest smiles can hold the most painful of pasts, my dear…" the young woman sighed, and shook her head. "that, I do know, professor." She said, and then she apparated to the pub.

She and Dumbledore met Seraphina at the bar. She was frowning over a pint of butterbeer. Lachesis smirked at the petulant look on the other girl's face. "Seraph, there you are…" the metamorphmagus stated.

Seraphina jerked her head. As she took a gulp from the tankard. "Hullo." She said dully.

Lachesis grinned and sat next to her. She had noticed the silence that had engulfed the room as the professor had walked in, and had decided that, perhaps the conversation that the professor wanted would be better had somewhere else.

"We should leave, now," she muttered. "The professor asked to have a word with us."

Seraphina, who had looked pouty and slightly drunk (which Lachesis internally scoffed at) became alert at once. She sat up straighter, and her dark eyes flashed. "Right." She muttered, polishing off her drink. She smiled at the bartender and paid her tab. "Truly good butterbeer, Mr. Tom. Thanks." She said with a smile, before walking over to the professor.

"Where would you rather have this meeting, Professor?" she asked the old man. He smiled. "wherever you can be most comfortable, Miss. O'Brian… or shall I call you Professor, now?"

Seraphina frowned. "I suppose that I am, now, huh? Well, here's the address to my home…" she said, writing it down on a napkin, and handing it to Dumbledore.

The professor read through it, and then brought the tip of his wand to the napkin, and set it on fire. Lachesis and Seraphina both dissapparated straight into the main floor's sitting room, where Dottie waited.

"Miss is back with her friend." The sweet- tempered house elf sang, smiling. Both young women smiled back. "Hello, Dottie." Lachesis greeted.

"Hi, Dottie. Do you mind getting us some tea? Three cups. We're about to have a visitor." She said. The house elf nodded as she sang her affirmation and popped off to the kitchen. Seraphina giggled at the elf's sunny demeanor, finally pulling herself out of her own funk.

Dumbledore apparated into the sitting room himself, though he hadn't known that he would, by the look on his face. It was Seraphina who grinned. "Sorry about that, Professor. It can't be helped. Please, have a seat. Dottie's bringing tea." She said, motioning to a large, majestically cushioned seat.

Dumbledore took the seat and eyed the two young women.

"Thank you." Dumbledore began, "For agreeing to meet with me, rather on a whim." Seraphina smirked. "Whims are my specialty, Professor Dumbledore… though I can't say that this was."

At his smile, a smile that was both amused and confused at the same time, the brunette's smirk grew wider. "My parents were in the Order of the Phoenix the first time around. I may have been young when they died, but I have a pretty good memory. They used to tell me stories."

Dumbledore's eyes- though still sparkling- narrowed. "How much do you know about what's been happening, Miss O'Brian?" he asked.

Seraphina's grin turned feral, her dark eyes glinted as she looked at the old man in front of her. She chuckled. "Far more than I should." She murmured. "I know that the witch who killed my mother is a death eater. I also know that the one in charge killed a seventeen- year- old boy last month. Or, rather, _had_ him killed." She looked at Dumbledore. "How am I doing so far?" she asked.

The man looked surprised, to say the least. The murder had not been publicized as such- it had been put out to be an 'accident' during the Triwizard Tournament.

"May I ask, dear girl, how you knew about that?" he questioned. Seraphina laughed darkly.

"I am a seer. Unlike Sybil Trelawney, I can remember my prophetic dreams and such…" she said it softly. "I saw the murder months before it happened… and it was enough for me to figure out a few things." She muttered. "My question, Dumbledore," she had dropped calling him 'professor' he noted, "Is why you wanted to see us in the first place."

At this, Dumbledore's smile returned. "I came here to ask you to join the Order of the Phoenix." He replied. Seraphina's eyebrow shot up. "Even me? I am underaged… Regardless of whether I'm out of school or not…" she said it softly.

Dumbledore smiled. "You are out of school, and you are an Auror. You are perfectly qualified. Not to invite you would be, I feel, a mistake. Besides," his eyes turned a bit dull, and his face turned to a frown.

"I have known far too many children who have had to grow beyond their years in their lives. You are one of them."

Seraphina nodded. "I'll accept your invitation into the order," She said it calmly. "I have connections that you're going to need. Seraphina and I can get some people in America. I can't promise you a lot, mind you…" she muttered. "But at least our family and friends will want in… because you can be damn sure that Voldemort has followers in America, as well."

The professor nodded in agreement. "Too True. If you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to take the two of you to our headquarters." He said, standing up. Seraphina and Lachesis both stood. Lachesis had been oddly silent throughout the whole exchange, Seraphina noticed. Idly, she wondered what her sister was thinking.

First though, "Dottie," she called. The house elf appeared. "Lachesis and I are going to be out for a while…" she said with a smile.

"Very well, miss. Dottie will be fine." The female house elf grinned before disappearing again. She turned to Lachesis and sighed. "What do you make of all this, sis?" she asked, frowning.

"I think we're getting a bit in over our heads… which is nothing new, but, Seraphina, we're going to have to be _very_ careful from here on. Especially you. You're going to a school that has a whole ministry against the headmaster… and they aren't going to like your teaching methods…"

"Correct me if I'm wrong…. But they stuck me there regardless of my own thoughts on the matter, and didn't even let me have a say." She said it coolly. "They're going to have to _deal_. I'm not playing their games."

With that, the two dissapparated after the Professor. To a street in the middle of London. The street sign read Grimauld Place.

* * *

 _ **So, there's the next chapter. As always read and review. I'll have the next chapter out ASAP, where the Weasleys will be there, as will Hermione… and Molly will be… unhappy at a 16 year old in the Order. Seraphina will be putting together her lesson plans… and etc.**_

 **Au Revoir,** _ **Angel of Pandemonium**_

 _ **Also, the French: Seraphina's asking Lachesis if she's stairing at Percy's behind. The French translator I'm using is truly annoying… as it's google, and it keeps putting the feminine in instead of the masculine, so it's are you looking at**_ **her** _ **ass instead of**_ **his.**


	4. Dinner at the House of Black

_**Magic and Mischief**_

 _Chapter 4- Dinner at the House of Black_

The street seemed deserted for the time being. Seraphina frowned, knowing how often that assumption had gotten her into trouble, and cast a tracking spell, making sure that was the case. Dumbledore noticed, and chuckled. "That was not altogether necessary, Professor O'Brian." He said.

Seraphina shrugged. "Humor me. It's not unlikely that someone from the ministry would follow us." She murmured. Lachesis, meanwhile, was looking at the building complex, frowning. "Number 12 is missing…" she muttered. "How could they _miss_ number 12?"

Dumbledore chuckled again. "Simple, Miss Hyde. They didn't." as if he'd spoken the magic words, the houses seemed to split apart between numbers 11 and 13, revealing another building.

"Welcome, ladies," the professor drawled, blue eyes sparkling behind his half-moon specticals, "to the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, Number 12, Grimauld Place."

Both young women gaped. "Holy crap…" Seraphina muttered. Dumbledore merely smiled as he held the door open for the two of them. "After you," he stated, letting the women pass. "there is going to be a meeting in a few minutes. To debrief the two of you." He explained as he stepped through the door.

The two had already stopped in the long entryway, having been confronted with a bit of familial mayhem, in the form of a short, pleasantly plump woman with vivid, flaming red hair, and two significantly taller young men who shared the same shade of brilliant hair. "I thought told you to get rid of the lot of them!" she was yelling, even as another feminine voice (both young women winced at the tone) shrieked behind the red-heads.

" _MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRATORS, HALF-BREED FILTH BESPOILING THE HOUSE OF MY FAHTERS! BEGONE, THINGS OF EVIL…!"_ the unearthly, grating sound seemed to be coming from the portrait of a horrible old hag- who looked, for a second, like a banshee (though, in hindsight, Seraphina thought, this woman was quite a bit uglier).

Lachesis was gaping at the family of redheads arguing in front of her. " _Merde*,_ " she hissed, "There are _more_ of them?"

Seraphina snorted. "I'm sure we covered that already." She replied. "I don't know _why_ you're so shocked…"

Lachesis rolled her eyes. She _had_ known, it was just different _seeing_ it. Seraphina grinned at her friend, knowing exactly what was running through the other woman's head. However, she turned back to the scene in front of her… one that had gotten bigger.

A man had joined the three redheads already in the hall. He was tall, Seraphina would wager around 6 feet and some inches. His hair was thick, black as night, and long, past his shoulders, and he wore it in a half ponytail that did nothing to feminize him. His skin was a bit pale- she suspected that he'd been out of the sun for quite a while…. And though he'd spent 13 years in prison, was still devastatingly handsome. It was, she realized, Sirius Black, heir to the Black family.

"Well, _that_ didn't take long." Seraphina's voice was dry as dirt as she examined Black. Sirius gave a wan grin, as Seraphina turned to Lachesis. "I didn't expect to find him this quickly."

"I thought for _sure_ I'd have to put in some effort, at least…" the blue haired witch drawled. Dumbledore chuckled. "Ladies, I would quite appreciate for you _not_ to arrest Sirius."

"Who said we were going to, professor?" Seraphina asked, her tone sugary sweet. "I, for one, don't _want_ to make the ministry's life easier. Not after the day I've had…"

She turned back to the woman's portrait. "I _can_ and _will_ blast the wall out, you horrible old hag." She growled. " _I_ don't live here. I don't have any qualms."

That seemed to shut the bitch up, Lachesis thought idly as she stared at the portrait of her cousin. She snorted. "Well, that was oddly productive for something so violent sounding…" she murmured. The woman, who's attention had been caught by the newcomers frowned.

"Dumbledore…" she hedged. "Who did you bring?"

Seraphina blinked and grinned. "Sorry, I totally forgot my manners. I'm Seraphina O'Brian." She held out her hand. Molly's frown deepened, even as she took it. Seraphina didn't feel any animosity coming from the woman though, just disapproval, as she shook her hand.

Dumbledore, however, chuckled softly at the older woman. "Don't fret, Molly, they're both graduated."

"Still. They look a bit young to be in the order." Molly murmured, right before she caught her sons trying to sneak away. "Don't move a muscle." She snapped. They froze, and sent each other identical looks of chagrin. Black smirked.

Seraphina sighed. Molly was technically right. She wasn't of age yet. She knew that well. Not until next year would she be seventeen. She straightened under the older woman's steely, whiskey colored gaze, and very nearly winced. The woman reminded her of Jaci just a bit too much. Lachesis smirked as she saw her sister's reaction, before turning to the woman herself.

"I'm Lachesis Hyde." She said, grin still in place. Her gold and silver eyes sparked. Molly smiled wanly at Lachesis. "Molly Weasley." She returned, turning her own gold eyes on the older woman. "Hyde?" Sirius asked, frowning. "Why does that sound familiar?" Lachesis snickered. "Because I'm your cousin of sorts."

Sirius blinked. "How?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Lachesis gave a wolfish grin. "Isla Black is my…. I think four times great grandmother. Maybe a five times great. I can't really remember." Sirius gaped. "In any case, Molly, we should go to the kitchen." Dumbledore stated. "I expect everyone else is there?"

"Yes, Dumbledore, but…" she cast a glance at Seraphina, who huffed. "Mrs. Weasley, Professor Dumbledore asked me to join the order. I may be young… but, I've graduated from school. I'm also an Auror." She said it quietly.

Lachesis could see the frustration on the younger woman's face, though she did not comment. Molly did not look convinced, but she seemed to let it go… for the time being. Lachesis sighed, and put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Let it go, Seraph. It's not like it's the first time this has happened…" she murmured. Seraphina snorted, but took a deep breath, and followed the others into the kitchen.

There, she was confronted with more people. A tall man with long, greasy, black hair, sallow skin, a roman nose, and black, billowing robes that lent him the look of a large bat. Seraphina frowned as a flash appeared in the back of her mind. Long, delicate, and white. She shook her head and sat down, but the man's eyes snapped to hers. Narrowed and black.

If he took better care of himself, Seraphina thought, he wouldn't look half bad. She shrugged and sat next to yet another redhead. "Dumbledore," the black-haired man frowned. "She's not seventeen."

"She's more than qualified in all but age, Severus." The white-haired man said, gentle voice placating the other man. Seraphina sighed. One more time. Lachesis snorted, as if hearing her thoughts. Severus, however, cast a sideways glance at her. What the hell? She glared at him.

And then she realized. Legitimancy. He was a mind-reader. One of great skill, if she had to guess. One way to make sure. She thought the nastiest things she could, pouring her chagrin and anger at constantly being underestimated into the poisonous thoughts.

His eyes widened a fraction as he stared at her, again for only seconds. She had to give him prompts, he held it in well. She smirked. "I'm an Auror. Actually, the ministry asked for Lachesis and my help with the capture of Sirius Black."

"Until they found out Seraphina's age… they… took exception to it, and stuck her in Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Lachesis smirked. Seraphina growled. "Oh, shut up." She grumbled.

Severus smirked, though Seraphina frowned, as it didn't reach his black eyes. He shrugged, and turned to Dumbledore. "I'll be returning to the school." He said in a low monotone. Seraphina snorted as he left, black cloak billowing around him.

"And your parents are okay with that? With you being an Auror?" Molly pressed, after Snape left. Seraphina smiled wryly. "Depends. I would like to hope that my parents would be proud of me. Kind of hard to ask them. As for my adoptive family… well, Jaci is about as okay with it as you seem to be, Mrs. Weasley, and Mingan is more resigned to it, but they support me." She said. "It helps that my sister is my partner, so they don't worry _as_ much…"

"Where are your parents?" Arthur asked softly. Seraphina sighed. "They're dead." She replied, her voice was a bit harsh, cold. She effectively closed off the subject. Lachesis winced. That- along with the subject of Seraphina's step- mother- was a taboo subject with the young witch.

It wasn't as if they were the first to ask where Seraphina's parents were, but every time someone did, the raw, aching wound in Seraphina's heart seemed to start bleeding again… and it was something that Lachesis didn't like seeing. She sighed.

Molly, however, was still frowning at Seraphina- not angrily, the brunette noticed, just, worried. She smiled, as the older redhead rose from her seat.

"I'm Sixteen, Mrs. Weasley." She said it quietly. She frowned, suddenly realizing that the other woman's hair looked familiar- and not from the Percy prick… something about the color sparked a memory that just didn't want to let go.

"Far too young to be an Auror… or anything but a student…" Molly said. "But, I suppose that it can't be helped. Please call me Molly." She started getting out random pans and sighed as she started to cook.

"Molly, you are a gift…" Sirius grinned. He turned to his cousin. "I can only cook the basics… and then that's half of a chance of it burning. And as I'm not going to trust the little monster that is the house elf not to poison me, I usually just suffer."

Lachesis grinned herself as Seraphina got up, and walked over to the other woman. "Yeah, I know what you mean there, Sirius. I can't cook to save my life… and neither can any of our roommates, Liana or Dev. It's all Seraphina."

"Can I help with dinner, Molly?" the brunette asked, and as the other woman made room for her at the stove, a loud crash sounded outside the dining room. As did the loud screeching of the portrait in the hall.

Kesis turned to Sirius. "Does she ever yell anything else?"

"Sometime, she gets really inventive, and screams out all sorts of curses instead of just wishing us all dead." The man said as he got up. Kesis did too. "Let me do it. I want to stick it to my annoying, dead cousin."

"Speaking of which, you're about to meet another one. Tonks." He said as he sat back down. Lachesis grinned and walked out. Sirius then turned his attention to the brunette working with Mrs. Weasley at the stove. "you look familiar…."

"I look like Hermione Granger. She's my cousin. She doesn't know. My maternal grandfather was an ass." Seraph said dryly as she cooked. Molly blinked. "You mean to say that Hermione is your cousin?" she asked, thinking of the other brunette who was presently upstairs with her youngest son.

"And that she doesn't know. My mother's dad wasn't the easiest man to get along with. Magical ability in my family come out at birth. When my mother and her two sisters were born- they were triplets, by the way- one of them did not show any signs of magical ability. She was a squib, so my dear grandfather gave her up for adoption- without my grandmother's knowledge. As a result, she left him.

But she couldn't get her daughter back. Couldn't find her. So, she did what she could do, and raised my mother and my aunt by herself. Neither my mom or Aunt Joclyn wanted anything to do with my grandfather when they became old enough to choose. Grandma MacGregor did eventually find out where my other aunt was, after my grandfather's death. She kept tabs on her. Which is how I know about Hermione and her family."

"Wow, that's one hell of a story… but why did your grandda give your aunt up for adoption?" A new woman, this one with pink hair (must be a metamorphmagus like Kesis, Seraph thought) asked as she walked into the kitchen, with Lachesis right behind her. Seraph snorted at the brilliant pink hair that was followed by the electric blue hair.

"Because he was an ass. He didn't want the MacGregor name sullied by a squib, I guess. Apparently, it's a big deal even within the wizarding world."

"Aren't the MacGregors supposed to be descendants of Merlin?" the witch asked.

"That's the story that I was told. Then again, he also disowned my mom for marrying a half blood and Aunt Mira for not marrying at all. By the way, who are you?"

"Tonks."

"Nymphadora." Another wizard had entered. He looked a bit like some of the men in Lachesis' family's tribe. His robes were frayed on the end, his hair shaggy and kept back in a short, low tail like he hadn't had time for a haircut. His eyes were jade and amber… and lord, did the man have scars. Not horrible, mind you, but enough for Seraph to know exactly what he was- a werewolf.

Incidentally, Kesis must have smelled it on him, because she jerked her head toward the man, blinking. "You're a wolf…" she stated.

"It's Tonks, Remus. I don't _like_ Nymphadora."

Remus though, had turned his attention on the blue haired woman. "How did you know that?" he asked slowly.

"I'm half. Not enough to turn at the full moon, but I have heightened senses, and have compensated by becoming an anamagi that turns into a wolf." She replied. "I can smell it on you."

"Wouldn't your mother have had reservations about marrying a werewolf?" Remus asked, frowning. Lachesis snorted.

"Oh, Spirits, no. She didn't. Dad, on the other hand, did. I hear it was a pretty messy argument… that she won." She shook her head. "Didn't even flinch. If I remember the story right, she went right out in the middle of the night- during a full moon, mind you- and found him."

"How is she not a werewolf?" The man asked, incredulous. Lachesis grinned. "She cast a rather powerful shield spell- one she created. He attacked her, but couldn't get to her. She stayed with him till morning. They married not long after."

The others who had arrived in the kitchen (by the end of Kesis' spiel about her senses had become about twenty- and that included about three more redheads, two of whom bore resemblances to the obviously older pair.)

"So… we've got another wolf… cool." the redhead next to Arthur Weasley said. "Bill…" Molly snapped. Kesis grinned.

"Again, not really. My family… well, my family's tribe has some serious wolf blood running through it. I'm not a werewolf, per say, but there are quite a few of them in my family… and actually, the grand elders consider it to be a blessing. They take it as meaning that those who have been bitten are not only warriors, but are close to their spirit guide- which usually takes the form of an animal anyway. Those of us who are part wolf, as we call ourselves, usually turn into animagi so that we can be close to the wolf as well."

Bill nodded. "Makes sense."

"But wouldn't there still be prejudices outside of the tribe?" Tonks asked. Obviously, the pink haired woman's curiosity was peaked. Kesis just snorted.

"Of course, there is, and not just because of the wolf thing… the fact that I am a woman, and native American- Comanche to be exact- sets it off as well. America may be a pretty stellar place to live, but the prejudices run high. They always have. I've just learned to ignore it."

"Or tell anyone who pisses her off to screw off." Seraphina drawled. "Like she did to the ministry official who was sent to America to ask for our help…"

All eyes turned to the brunette in curiosity. She, herself turned to Molly. "Sorry to tell you it was your son. He was kind of…. Er…."

"A complete and total prat." Kesis called out from beside Sirius. The two eldest Weasleys looked at each other, a vein starting to show in Arthur's forehead, while Molly's eyes started to water.

Bill spoke first. "What happened?"

"Oh, he just made Lachesis want to punch him in the face is all." Seraphina's extremely dry voice cut through. Lachesis blinked. "I'm pretty sure that I can answer for myself." She muttered at her best friend.

"And tell the truth? You tend to play it off, and you know it." She looked back at Molly and Arthur. "I'm sorry, by the way, for bringing it up. I shouldn't have… but he's really one of the reasons we joined the order in the first place."

"How?" Bill asked, his facial expression one of confusion and annoyance. Seraphina could tell instantly that even this down to earth, easygoing curse breaker was rather angry at his younger brother. She snorted.

"It wasn't anything he said. He just pissed us off enough to want to screw the Ministry over. So, when Dumbledore came through the office door next, we were both saying 'sure, why the hell not?' and packing up to get here."

Bill's eyebrow shot up as the explanation was given. But Seraph wasn't done yet. "And then, when we got here, went to the ministry, I mean, we were bombarded by more…. Well, I actually can't think of a word for it, other than ass- hattary, in the form of a dude named Malfoy and the minister himself- who is a total _tool_ by the way." Seraph was getting angry remembering.

"That sounds like Lucius Malfoy."

"and it sounds like I have someone else that I'd like to punch in the face with a chair."

Sirius, Tonks and Bill, and the other redhead (probably Bill's brother) all roared with laughter, Remus smirked, and even the elder Weasleys grinned. "Ah, might I help with that?" Charlie asked. Seraph turned to smirk at him.

"Honestly, Charlie, I think that you have enough problems in Romania right about now… don't you?"

"What do you mean?" the redhead's eyebrow shot up and he had a bewildered smirk on his face. Lachesis started snickering as Seraphina's smile only got wider. A wicked glint sparked in her brown eyes.

"She's 167 meters tall, has dark red hair, and really dislikes dragon researchers who trash plants that she's researching by landing dragons on them… She broke a bunch of my collectables over that."

She watched as her words affected the second oldest of the Weasley clan. His blue eyes hardened to an annoyed sapphire. His face twisted into a scowl and he glared. "Liana Evans…" he snarled. "You know her?"

"She's one of my best friends. And roommates." She smirked. "I told her it was an accident. I apologized. It's not my fault that she decided that it was worth fighting tooth and nail about." He grumbled.

"And it had nothing what-so-ever to do with your temper, either, hm, Charlie?" she drawled, delicately picking some lent off her robes, dark brown eyes glittering. "I'd like to point out that she broke about two hundred galleons worth of stuff… including something in her greenhouse."

"And that's my fault? I can't control her temper." He snarked. Seraphina and Lachesis looked at each other and started laughing.

"Must be missing a joke, there, bro…" Bill smirked.

"Just that… that's the- what? Fourth? Weasley that has pissed one of us- me or anyone related to me, or my friends- off."

"Eh, fourth?"

"You, Charlie, pissed Liana off; Percy has done an excellent job of angering Lachesis; My cousin is Hermione Granger, who as I hear it, gets into a fight daily with Ron, who I believe is your youngest brother; and I got run over by another Weasley when I went to Hogwarts to take my NEWTs two years ago… if I remember correctly, his name was Fred...?"

At the last statement, Bill and Charlie started laughing. Even Molly smiled, now, as did Arthur. The others (who apparently knew the Weasleys) started laughing as well. "Why was he running?" Molly asked. Seraph shrugged. "I don't know. I don't care either.

Those who knew the twins laughed, Molly sighed and shook her head, while Arthur smiled. It seemed to have been the best thing that could have been said, as both mother and father of the Weasleys looked less upset. "Speaking of whom, we should call them down for dinner, shouldn't we?" Remus said, "It smells amazing, Molly."

"Thank you, Remus." The redheaded woman smiled then, though the smile was a bit sad. Seraphina let out a soft breath as Lachesis got up.

"NO, dear, stay there, I'll get them." Molly said as she moved with a graceful competence around the large table to the door of the kitchen.

They heard her go up the stairs, and soon, they heard multiple pairs of feet rushing out. "That portrait is going to wake up again…" Lachesis grumbled. Sirius snorted. Remus sighed. Seraphina joined them at the table, and looked at the werewolf.

"So, I'm new to the teaching thing… Mind giving me some pointers?" Remus smirked. "Well, I haven't been a teacher in about a year… I'm not sure what I can tell you…"

Seraphina rolled her eyes. "Okay, but you still taught a year, which is more than me. Come on, help a girl out…"

Sirius roared with laughter, even as four more redheads came in, followed by a brunette girl and Mrs. Weasley. Seraphina's head jerked up as her cousin entered the kitchen, and gave the younger girl a quick grin as she got up.

Hermione had frozen, upon entering. Besides her older sister, she'd been unaware of any other family, but this girl…. She looked like… well, a prettier version of her. Seraphina looked over at Molly. "I'm going to go talk to Hermione." She said quietly. Molly nodded, as the dark- haired girls left the kitchen.

The youngest of the Weasley boys frowned. "Who was that?" he asked his mother. Molly sighed. "Hermione's cousin."

"Your new defense against the dark arts teacher." A blue haired woman that he'd never seen called from the table. He sat down next to two empty chairs. Fred and George frowned a bit as well. "She looks pretty young…" Fred murmured.

"Yeah, at least our age, if she's out of school." George said. Lachesis grinned.

Meanwhile, out in the hall, Seraphina stood with Hermione. "How's aunt Erika?" she asked, grinning. Hermione smiled shyly. "She's fine. We just found out she's pregnant…." She murmured, thinking of her mother, and how happy she'd been when she told Hermione and Anna the news. "I was surprised to hear it, though."

Seraphina laughed. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I already know you. I'm Seraphina. Erika's biological sister's daughter." She explained.

Hermione nodded. "Mom told us she'd been adopted, but she never really knew much about her birth family."

"She had two sisters. They were triplets. Our grandfather was the one who made the decision to give Erika away, and our grandmother left him for it. It was not a happy time. She tried to find your mother to get her back, but by the time she'd found Erika, she just.. couldn't take her back from the family she'd been given to."

"I'm sure Grandma Murry would thank you for that. They couldn't have children… and they loved my mom."

"Well, that's why. Grandma MacGregor figured that if your mom was happy- and she had been- she could share parentage with another couple. From what I heard, she kept in touch with your grandparents, but could never bring herself to contact aunt Erika."

"That's what I heard, as well. Mom was sad, but she kind of understood."

"Your mother has a bit of magic herself, so that doesn't surprise me. Anyway, I'm so happy that I can finally meet my little cousin." She smiled at Hermione, who grinned back at her.

"You seem to know about me, but until tonight, I didn't even know I had a cousin." Hermione murmured. Seraphina grinned. "Yeah. We'll get to know each other plenty, though."

"We're almost into July, though..." Hermione frowned. "We won't have much time to get to know each other." She wanted to know about her cousin.

Seraphina sighed. "Well, not quite. I'm the new defense against the dark arts teacher. We'll get to know each other plenty." She said. Hermione looked hopeful, and Seraphina blinked.

IT was about that time that she realized something. Her cousin was a bit lonely. Sure, she had her two best friends, but they were both boys, and she didn't have very many female friends. Besides, perhaps, Molly's youngest, Ginny, of course.

Well, Seraphina thought, I'll just have to fix that. "We should go back in. I'm getting hungry. I'm staying for dinner, and then going home, but I'll be back tomorrow."

"That's when Harry's coming…" Hermione suddenly looked concerned. Seraphina frowned at the look. "What's wrong with that? He's your friend, right?"

"Well, he's my best friend, but he's… well, right now is a bit difficult. He's gone and got himself in trouble, again. And now, they're trying to get him expelled…" Hermione sighed. "It wasn't his fault, and they can't do it, not legally, but they'll try…"

"Oh, I figured. I met the Minister of Magic today… and I'll be honest, Hermione, I didn't like what I saw. I don't like what I've been reading, either."

"You know?" Hermione looked at her cousin, and flinched a bit. The older girl's eyes were narrowed, and had darkened nearly to black. She looked pissed, Hermione realized, and she wasn't one that Hermione saw getting pissed off at the drop of a hat.

"Of course, I know. I do read the paper… and I'm friends with his second cousin."

That brought Hermione up, short. Cousin? Harry had a cousin? Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Seraphina grinned. "I'll explain later. For now, let's go get food. I'm starved." She said. Hermione nodded.

They went back into the kitchen, and Seraphina couldn't help but notice that the youngest redheaded boy's crystal blue eyes shot right over to her cousin's dark- brown one. She smiled at Ron, and took a seat next to him. "I'll explain later, Ron." She murmured softly, so only he could hear. Fred and George were talking animatedly to a man whose name turned out to be Mundungus Fletcher, right up until Seraphina walked in. Fred's eyes- the same whiskey brown as his mother's- locked onto Seraphina.

She didn't notice, though, as she took her seat beside her own best friend. Lachesis smirked at the twin that had started staring at her sister, before turning to Seraphina. "So, are we leaving after dinner?" she asked.

Seraphina shrugged. "I suppose. We'll have to talk to Lianah, though, she'll want to come tomorrow…" she muttered. Lachesis frowned. "Really? Why?"

Seraphina grinned. "I'll explain later, for now… this looks amazing, Molly." She said as she dug in. Molly grinned at her. "Thank you, though you did help, dear…"

"Well, I've never been the most modest of cooks, but you're definitely better than me…" the brunette returned. "Must come from having seven kids to feed." She grinned back at the older woman. Molly snorted. "Oh, that's the truth."

After dinner had made it to the table, most of the conversation was scattered, as they were all too busy eating. Dessert was just as amazing, and the conversation about school was brought up.

"So, exactly where did you go to school, you two?" Arthur asked Lachesis and Seraphina. The two blinked. "Well," Lachesis started slowly, "We… went to Ilvermorney academy for magic." Seraphina grinned. "Different houses, thought. I was in Horned Serpent, while Lachesis here was a Wampus."

"What are the houses in Ilvermorny?" Fred asked, looking confused.

Seraphina grinned. "Well, you've got Wampus, Horned Serpent, Thunderbird and Pukwudgie." She replied. "Our other roommate, Lianah Evans, was in Thunderbird, and Devisa went to Hogwarts. She was a Hufflepuff… though I suspect if she'd gone to Ilvermorny, she'd have been a Pukwudgie…" she smirked.

"Where the heck did they get those names?" George asked, an eyebrow raised. Seraphina sighed. "Too long a story to tell. They're all names of magical creatures." She explained. "The names tie into the school's creation."

"So, why'd you two come here?" Ron asked, this time, Hermione frowned at him, though he shot her a look. Seraphina's grin faded into a look of annoyance, and Lachesis snickered. "Ah, good question… Let me explain…"

"Lachesis…" Seraphina grumbled. The blue haired girl smirked at her. "Aw, what's wrong, don't want them knowing?"

Seraphina shook her head. "I don't care… It's still irking…" she grumbled. She turned then, to Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you, Molly. It was amazing." She sighed. "I'm going to head home. I'm tired. See you tomorrow, Hermione. Everyone else…. See you at home, Kesis…"

Lachesis sighed as she stared after her best friend's hasty exit, many of the others at the table did, as well.

Though she'd been polite about it, it was still awkward, and Lachesis shook her head. "Sorry," she said. "It's been a long day, she gets pretty abrupt when she's tired… and she's had a nasty day as it is." She shook her head.

Molly frowned. "I don't understand… why would the two of you even want to join the order in the first place?"

"Seraph's parents were both murdered by the same woman- at separate times, and she was a death eater. She's got dual citizenship, so England is her home, too. Hermione is her cousin, and… well, the same woman who killed her parents made her life a living hell until she ran away. She's had a pretty rough go at it already, and she feels that if she can stop another kid from growing up like she had to, she should."

Molly gasped, and Hermione frowned. "She seems so easy-going, though." She murmured. Lachesis shrugged. "That's how she survived, Hermione. Your cousin has scars. She's still not healed from all of it, and there are times when she's still the broken little ten-year-old that arrived at my house on a rainy day in August." She sighed. "And as for me, well, I'm an Auror. She's my sister. I don't have a choice. My personality dictates that I must fight in any way I can."

"We are young, Molly, and thanks for worrying about us, but we need to do this. It's simply the way we're wired."

She bade the group goodbye after that. There was much to do, as Lachesis was going to be coming that night, and Seraphina would have one of her infamous nightmares that night. Lachesis didn't want her to be there alone.

She had to call her own mother, who was quite a bit like Molly, and figure out how to get her kids to England… because it looked like they'd be there for a while, and she _missed_ Dominic and Natalya. To be honest, she knew that it wasn't the time for that, and while she walked down the dark, stone hallways in MacGregor Hall, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that she _didn't_ want the children here just yet.

She found Seraphina in her room- or the room she'd claimed and sighed. She'd fallen asleep.

Ah, well, she thought, apparating to the drawing room, Lachesis was due at any second, and she figured that was the fireplace she'd end up. Sure enough, the redhead did arrive. One look at her friend said quite a bit.

"Long day, _mon ami_?" the woman asked, grinning.

"The longest. Dumbledore get ahold of you, then?"

"He did, _cher_ , and we had a lovely conversation. HE told me that _mon cousin_ will be at the headquarters tomorrow evening."

"And so, he will. Seraphina's asleep."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." Lianah grinned. "I'm tired, as well."

"Goodnight." Lachesis said, waving a hand at her friend, and then apparating to her room. "Tomorrow's another day," she murmured with a sigh, and she fell asleep.

* * *

 _ **Okay, that took way longer than I intended, and I hit a bit of a block in the middle. But, here's the next chapter, thank you for your patience. I don't know when I'll be updating next. Thanks for reading. Until Next Time, Angel of Pandemonium**_


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